Thanks to Pride Book Tours for the free advance copy of this book.

 - LOVELESS is such a wonderful and important book. Not only is it simply a great YA novel - coming of age, found family, figuring out who you are away from your family - but it also showcases a wide range of queer identities, including multiple characters on the aromantic and asexual spectrums. If I'd had a book like this when I was a teenager, it would have made such a difference. I don't match Georgia's identity exactly but some passages were a punch to the chest with how closely they matched my own experiences, which is still rare for me to find in books.
- Georgia and her friends are such a wonderful crew, loving each other deeply while still getting into fights and misunderstandings, because that's how life works, especially when you're 18 and your life is changing.
- I love any book that shows there are many life paths outside the single path of straight hetero marriage we are all presented with, and LOVELESS in particular also gets into how vital - and loving - friendship can be.
- I...just...the idea of teenagers finding this book and finding themselves in it makes me cry. Please read it. 

Thanks to Avon Books for the free copy of this book.

 - FIRST COMES LIKE is a wonderfully soft and gentle romance novel. The two leads are so kind to each other, even when trying to figure out the strange, false circumstances of their meeting.
- Dev and Jia are such a great pair, supporting each other through complicated family dynamics without a second thought.
- The real best part of this book, though, is that there is NO THIRD ACT BREAKUP. Just a miscommunication that is quickly solved when they talk to each other about it! The best. 

 - CUTE MUTANTS is one of the most fun rides I've taken in a long time. This book had me the minute it referenced both Buffy and The Good Place in one paragraph, after that I was firmly rooting for this ragtag bunch.
- I know zero about the X-Men, so don't worry about that. Sure, there are a lot of references to specific issues and stuff, but the real heart of this book is a bunch of misfit queer teens finding themselves and their queer family.
- I loved that these kids were messy and bitter and jealous and all deeply in love with each other, both romantically and platonically. It's just a sarcastic, coming of age delight. 

 - MOON OF THE CRUSTED SNOW is a slow build, a book that evokes the feeling of rising panic and attempts to tamp it down. The dawning horror as you realize what's going on is perfect.
- I picked this up because I saw it categorized as "speculative fiction," and really, it's only infinitesimally removed from our reality. The community in the book deals with many issues real life Native communities deal with, and the storytelling woven into the book really highlighted that as well.
- I listened to this on audio and highly recommend that if you're an audiobook person. It's read by Billy Merasty, an actor of Cree descent, and he really makes you feel like you're right there in the story. 

Thanks to Atria Books for the free advance copy of this book.

 - GIRLS CAN KISS NOW is a hyperfocused deep dive into growing up and coming out in the 2000s. Gutowitz breaks down the journey lesbian culture and visibility took in those years, from hidden secret to loud and proud.
- I'm a few years older than the author, but so much of her experience of growing up as a suburban white girl receiving conflicting information about what being gay meant (and therefore being unable to discern whether you were gay) resonated deeply with me.
- A lot of really rough stuff is covered here, from generalized lesbophobia to forced outing, but this essay collection is actual laugh out loud hilarious. I kept reading passages aloud to my spouse, trying not to snort laugh at descriptions of furtively using the family computer or falling into lesbian TikTok. 

Thanks to Harper Perennial for the free advance copy of this book.

 - PANDORA'S JAR is for everyone who loves Greek mythology but wishes the women weren't protrayed only as objects or monsters.
- Even if you think you know it all in terms of myth, I'll bet Haynes digs out some alternate tellings and translations you haven't seen, giving everyone from Persephone to Clytemnestra new dimensions.
- Plus, this books is funny as heck. Haynes is dryly sarcastic, giving much needed levity to these tales of tragedy and woe. 

 - I am of two minds about QUIT LIKE A WOMAN. First, I put it off for a long time because I found the title so off-putting. It's so Girl Power, and it shows in a lot of the book. It's a lot of "I just discovered the patriarchy and am gonna yell about it."
- I also found it rather baffling that she spends the first third of the book claiming that people don't know alcohol is bad for them and trying to make it a shocking reveal that alcohol companies are marketing their products in a way meant to disguise that. Am I off base here, I don't know, but I certainly don't know anyone who believes drinking every day is actively healthy.
- There's also a lot of white lady privilege on display. While she occasionally mentions how oppressive cultural systems work extra hard to keep queer people, people of color, etc. down, in the next breath she's telling you that she simply replaced drinking alcohol with traveling to Rome.
- On the other hand, she is completely, absolutely, paradigm-shiftingly right about a lot of things. Alcohol is so ingrained in our culture (and specifically, mommy and woman culture) that we can hardly conceive of moving through life without it. And we panic a little at the idea of easing off the gas even a little, because that might mean we're alcoholics, and our culture throws those people in the trash.
- Related, I think the most useful idea in this book is the idea that it's bizarre to divide people into alcoholics and normal drinkers. Like, it's super weird to ostracize people who "can't handle" a substance our bodies aren't actually built to process. Shutting people out like that only makes everyone's lives harder and more confusing.